ROCKFORD — Jessica balances the fear that she could be arrested for using medical marijuana against the fear that the cancer in her body won’t let her live to see her 5-year-old daughter grow up.

The Rockford resident — whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy — has struggled with health problems since her teenage years.

In November 2011, doctors told her she had stage 4 neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, a rare and less aggressive but still serious cancer.

Last summer, she had surgery to rebuild her digestive system, and she smokes and eats medical cannabis to kill the nausea that frequently surges through her body.

Jessica is 27.

“I want to see my baby grow up,” she said. “It’s hard to think about it ... If something helps my quality of life, then why not use it? I’m not drinking and making my husband and daughter miserable because it’s legal.”

Jessica benefitted from legal access to marijuana when she lived for a short time in California. She’ll travel to Springfield next month to lobby for a bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in Illinois.

Bill sponsor Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, has said he thinks the legislation is a few votes shy of approval in the House. Advocates say there’s more momentum for this version than others.

The outlook

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.

Dan Riffle, deputy director of government relations for the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, said there are more Democrats in the General Assembly this year, so there’s a need for increased education about legalizing medical marijuana, but also the chance for greater support.

Riffle also said the legislation is stricter this time around, not allowing patients to grow their own medical marijuana, for instance, and there are a finite number of medical conditions that would qualify patients to use it.

“All signs point to this is the year,” Riffle said.

House Bill 1 creates a four-year pilot program that would give people with certain medical conditions — like cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS — access to medical marijuana if their doctors and the Illinois Department of Public Health approve.

Cultivating medical marijuana would be taxed at 7 percent of the sales price per ounce.

Pro/con

Medical marijuana is cheaper and has fewer side effects than the 11 medications Jessica was on at one time to manage her symptoms. She doesn’t smoke around her daughter and keeps the supplies out of sight.

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“As long as I can smoke, I don’t have a problem eating,” she said. “When I first got out of the hospital, I was just taking medicine like they wanted me to do. I wasn’t gaining any weight, and I had a hard time keeping food down.”

The legislation still has its critics, namely law enforcement officials and addiction-treatment professionals.

Rosecrance Health Network in Rockford has a long-standing policy of not supporting legalization or decriminalization of cannabis, CEO Phil Eaton said.

Local reaction

Response to the bill is mixed from the Rockford-area delegation.

Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, is one of the bill’s most vocal opponents, a stance rooted in his 30-plus years of working in law enforcement.

“If this bill passes, it will open a very significant issue with our law enforcement community,” Sacia said. “I just see this creating more problems than it will ever solve.”

Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, said this bill has more safeguards than previous versions, but he’s still not supportive of it and is against medical use “no matter what.”

Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, voted “yes” on the bill to get it out of committee so a broader discussion could take place. But his final vote is undecided: “This would be the strictest medical marijuana bill in the country, and I believe it does merit a debate.”

Cabello’s biggest concerns are some of the rules in the proposed legislation, like allowing people who have used medical marijuana to drive.

“Who am I to tell someone in great pain ‘No, you can’t do this’ if it helps them with their pain?” he said. “On the other hand, there are other drugs out there for that. The problem is, some of those drugs are addictive, as well.

“I have major concerns about the bill, but I’m keeping an open mind about it. Again, if it helps certain people who need it, I’ve got to at least give them the courtesy of looking at it.”

Sen. Dave Syverson of Rockford has been the lone Republican who voted in favor of previous medical marijuana legislation. He hasn’t studied this version as much because it’s still in the House.

Syverson said there’s a need for broader discussion on whether the right move is to legalize medical marijuana or decriminalize marijuana overall.